Not Everyone that Says Lord Lord, Part 1

Driving home: These surely are in many ways the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world, not only by any man, but even the Son of God himself.

Martin quotes a servant of God who called Matthew 7:21-23 the most solemn words ever uttered, emphasizing their profound significance and eternal implications.

Apart from me, ye that work iniquity. The terrible danger of a false conversion, of false prophets, but here the awesome danger of a false profession of Christianity. I hardly agree with one servant of God who has said concerning these three verses, and I quote, These surely are in many ways the most solemn and solemnizing words ever uttered in this world, not only by any man, but even the Son of God himself.

3:08 - 3:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Sit quietly, read the verses through, and then ask you to sit and meditate on them for five minutes, and then read them through again, and then silence for five minutes, read them through again, and then another period o…

Martin suggests that sitting in silence and meditating on the verses for 45 minutes might have a more profound effect than any commentary, highlighting the weight and self-sufficiency of the text.

This morning, my only purpose is going to be that we make a simple exposition of the verses, and then the Lord willing, next week, if He spares us and brings us together again, to think of some of the implications and the applications of those verses. What do we have in the text before us? Without any great elaboration, what do the words themselves mean? And I can almost wish that all I could do this morning would be to ask every one of you to sit quietly, read the verses through, and then ask you to sit and meditate on them for five minutes, and then read them through again, and then silence ...

6:52 - 7:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin transitions to verses 22-23, highlighting the 'startling revelation' of the judgment day. He emphasizes the great number of people who will make a false profession, even…

He uses the analogy of the Surgeon General's report on smoking and its temporary effect on sales to illustrate how people can intellectually assent to a warning but not apply it personally, leading to self-deception.

death and problems caused by lung cancer and excessive cigarette smoking. And when that report came out, and it was put in the Reader's Digest and in our papers and the rest, you remember there was a great decline in the cigarette sales for a while. But then it wasn't long before the cigarette sales went up again and the problem was solved. What happened?

34:08 - 34:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin transitions to verses 22-23, highlighting the 'startling revelation' of the judgment day. He emphasizes the great number of people who will make a false profession, even…

Martin shares a story about his doctor, a surgeon who operates on cancer-filled lungs, who carries on a one-man crusade to warn people, illustrating the frustration of knowing a truth that others ignore to their peril.

If you'll be one of them, what would his answer be? Not me. A neurology doctor to whom I've gone for some time and who's been an instrument, I believe, in God's common grace to help relieve me of a plaguing case of asthma and hay fever. Sir, he's operated so many times on cancer-filled lungs that he's a doctor.

35:10 - 35:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Go home and spend some time with God searching out the basis of your confidence that you're a Christian.

He uses the analogy of examining a potentially counterfeit bill to explain that honest self-examination, if one is truly a child of God, will only deepen assurance, not diminish it.

So my being, if you're His, will do only one thing. It'll just deepen your assurance. That's all it can do. If I've got a bill, deposit some money, and the man looks at it and says, I'm not quite sure.

47:49 - 48:10 Read in full sermon

The point: When the Spirit of God speaks and says, many will say, Lord, Lord, don't go out saying, not me.

Martin uses the analogy of a doctor finding no hope on an operating table and sending a patient home to die, to illustrate the irreversible and tragic state of those who realize their false profession too late on Judgment Day.

If you're one of these many, you're in that state now where it's a false profession. A person who believes the Surgeon General report but says, not me. An operating table and the doctor opens him up and turns and sighs to his colleagues and says, no hope. Sew him up.

48:40 - 49:03 Read in full sermon